EACH January, we have celebrated the New Year with unlimited excess – not only the gluttonous, gammony kind, but the excess which heralds the year’s first auction of a gargantuan bluefin tuna at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, Japan. Each time, one fish, whose flesh is prized as an expensive delicacy in sushi restaurants, becomes a symbol of the New Year in this way.
Last January’s tuna sold for a record-breaking 155.5 million yen, more than double the price it claimed in 2012, upholding a tradition that has seen that initial coveted bluefin growing increasingly expensive each year. On the Sunday of Jan 5, everyone braced themselves for yet another mind-bending price surge, yet, despite its larger size this time, the 230kg fish sold for the equivalent of only 5% of last year’s winning bid, fetching just 7.36 million yen (RM234,800) from restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura. He is the same bidder who won the last two auctions as well.
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